Dex Busken Source 4

Citation of Source 4: Hilsdon, John. "Peer Learning For Change In Higher Education." Innovations In Education & Teaching International 51.3 (2014): 244-254. Professional Development Collection. Web. 12 Oct. 2016.

Question: How does peer interaction in classrooms influence students ability to learn?

My Initial Thoughts: Before I started to read deeply into the article, I thought it was just going to be another source that was going to overlap the other studies I have looked at. It actually touched on a few new ideas that sparked my interest so I figured I would keep reading. The study referred to older research and actually took the time to relate this modern study to the older findings.

Step 2: This article studied the way that cooperative learning is brought upon students by instructors and what it does for them. The overall approach shifts the framing of the problem from a static, condition based view of the individual learner towards a more dynamic, process-based view which tries to identify problematic aspects of higher education discourse and practice. This statement is made by one of the authors of the article and it does a great job of summarizing what is trying to be achieved through this study.

The approach of this article with the study allowing students to identify themselves, gave a unique perspective on the factors that affect the cooperation of all group members that are working to complete a task. Social class, gender, ethnicity and other social categories is what students classified themselves with which was interesting because it showed their relation and awareness of what was going on in the group so they could use their background to compare to the task at hand and give different view points.

The article builds on the other sources I have used, especially the first source because it relates back to how diversity affects the affect on students while working together in groups. Also it goes to explore the opposing side that individual work is in some cases more beneficial for students depending on the amount of effort put in to a task and how it is utilized to achieve better scores on the post tests.

This my fourth source now and I am still unsure of how to make my question my specific. Hopefully once I start the drafting process j will come to a conclusion once I start putting everything together and start to use transitions to make it flow which should allow me to see where there are gaps in my thinking and research.